Monday, February 6, 2012
The 3D-D-Debate
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Animation All-Stars at the Annies!
Without a doubt, the Annie Awards are a highlight of the animation industry's calendar. Anyone and everyone who is anyone in animation will be at the awards so don't miss out and watch it live from L.A. this weekend. We are particularly excited because some of the cast of our upcoming feature, Zambezia, will be presenting this year's awards, including Jim Cummings (Lion King, Shrek, Aladdin) and Phil LaMarr (Futurama).
Ned Lott, our casting director and associate producer on Zambezia teamed up with Tom Kenny a.k.a. Spongebob to cook up some skits to get you in the mood. Check them out on Facebook and vote for your favourite.
We can't be there, unfortunately, but two of our executive producers, Mace Neufeld and Edward Noeltner head of Cinema Management Group will be attending the 39th annual awards ceremony.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Meet Tumi....fighting the fight for computer geeks, nerds and Clarke Kent look-alikes around the world
Tumelo is one of the talented animators working on our second feature in production, Khumba. Check out his interview with Animation SA here.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Fishy shorts!
The jury is out on our in-house short film competition and the winner is.... Kelly Dillon with her charming story, Bellyflop. The brief was to write a treatment for a short film between 4-6 minutes in length with no, or minimum, dialogue that is suitable for family viewing. The submissions were judged anonymously by the Triggerfish partners as well as two external judges, writer Lauren Beukes and Jeremy Collins owner of Juju animation.
Concept art for Bellyflop by Daniel Clark
Well done to everyone who submitted! It was a tough choice for the judges. Jac Hamman's Hot Spring and Kane Croudace's A Bag of Cats were the 1st and 2nd runners up respectively. As the winner of the competition, Kelly went on a script/story weekend workshop hosted by The Writing Studio and took some time out of her schedule as Assets Co-ordinator on our upcoming feature, Khumba, for a quick Q & A.
What is your story about?
An unashamed young girl learning to dive becomes frustrated when a talented contender with a flair for showing off steals the spotlight, but eventually triumphs as the hero of the day thanks to her persistent nature.
What inspired you to write it?
The character of Penny was inspired by a girl I au-paired for when I was at university. I remember when she started taking swimming lessons and admired her persistence in learning to dive properly, even though she wasn’t built as a swimmer. In Bellyflop I wanted to show that nothing is worth giving up on and unexpected rewards can come from persistence. Even though Penny will never be a champion diver, she only wanted her moment to be recognised, and although it came from elsewhere, it was her persistent nature that resulted in this recognition.
Do you think your experience in production contributed to your understanding of the basics of story/story-telling?
My production experience helped when I was setting up the parameters of my story in terms of what the studio would most likely be able to make; I knew I wanted to write about humans - this would be a first for the studio and possibly provide an R&D opportunity ahead of a feature. I also wanted to set the story in a contained environment to minimise the required production resources, and adding a braai into the setting instantly made it local. Within these parameters I then put my writing cap on and worked out a plot that maximised good story-telling techniques.
What did you gain most out of the script-writing course?
The script-writing course provided inspiration and techniques to create interesting and absolute characters. Placing your characters in extreme situations outside of your story, and nailing their responses or reactions, helps define them and make them more real. I also learnt how important it is to dramatize events in your plot which will in turn reveal the depth of your characters.
Well done to everyone who submitted! It was a tough choice for the judges. Jac Hamman's Hot Spring and Kane Croudace's A Bag of Cats were the 1st and 2nd runners up respectively. As the winner of the competition, Kelly went on a script/story weekend workshop hosted by The Writing Studio and took some time out of her schedule as Assets Co-ordinator on our upcoming feature, Khumba, for a quick Q & A.
What is your story about?
An unashamed young girl learning to dive becomes frustrated when a talented contender with a flair for showing off steals the spotlight, but eventually triumphs as the hero of the day thanks to her persistent nature.
What inspired you to write it?
The character of Penny was inspired by a girl I au-paired for when I was at university. I remember when she started taking swimming lessons and admired her persistence in learning to dive properly, even though she wasn’t built as a swimmer. In Bellyflop I wanted to show that nothing is worth giving up on and unexpected rewards can come from persistence. Even though Penny will never be a champion diver, she only wanted her moment to be recognised, and although it came from elsewhere, it was her persistent nature that resulted in this recognition.
Do you think your experience in production contributed to your understanding of the basics of story/story-telling?
My production experience helped when I was setting up the parameters of my story in terms of what the studio would most likely be able to make; I knew I wanted to write about humans - this would be a first for the studio and possibly provide an R&D opportunity ahead of a feature. I also wanted to set the story in a contained environment to minimise the required production resources, and adding a braai into the setting instantly made it local. Within these parameters I then put my writing cap on and worked out a plot that maximised good story-telling techniques.
What did you gain most out of the script-writing course?
The script-writing course provided inspiration and techniques to create interesting and absolute characters. Placing your characters in extreme situations outside of your story, and nailing their responses or reactions, helps define them and make them more real. I also learnt how important it is to dramatize events in your plot which will in turn reveal the depth of your characters.
Monday, November 7, 2011
Zambezia premiers in Los Angeles!
Word on the streets of Los Angeles is that responses to the Zambezia screenings at AFM this weekend have been great! Check out the latest teaser/promo on our updated website here.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Zambezia comes up tops!
Zambezia appeared as one of the “25 Must See Films” at the American Film Market (AFM) in French trade journal, Le Film Francais and..... we're on the cover.
Friday, October 28, 2011
World Animation Day
In celebration of Animation Day around the world, we came to work dressed up as our favourite animated character. Thanks to Cathy, Henrietta and Shune for all the effort they put in to make it a grrrreat day!
Monday, October 24, 2011
Monday, October 17, 2011
Meet.....our sales agent
Friday, October 14, 2011
Zambezia scored!
Bruce Retief (composer) is in L.A. recording the score for our upcoming feature, Zambezia. Check out these behind-the-scenes clips of him with the The Hollywood Studio Symphony orchestra.
5 minutes with....Mdu!
In celebration of World Animation Day this month, Animation SA has been doing interviews with people working in the industry. Check out Mdu's interview here.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Shooting the breeze with Entertainment Africa
Anthony and Raffaella, who co-wrote Zambezia as well as Khumba were interviewed by Siya Ngcobo for Entertainment Africa. You can check out the online article here.
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